1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to increasing the efficiency of directly fired water heating systems, in general, and to methods and apparatus for the industrial heating of water as required for concrete production, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
As will be understood by those skilled in the art, commercial manufacturing processes for the production of concrete to be poured from trucks in the laying of patios and sidewalks entail the heating of incoming water. Typically available from a well or a municipal water line at some 50° F., the process involves heating the incoming water in a storage tank to a temperature over 100° F. higher. Whether the storage tank be of 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 gallon capacity or more (depending upon the size of the concrete manufacturing operation), the burners that there fire the heat exchanger in the tank usually run on No. 2 fuel oil, natural gas or propane. As is known, various temperature and valve controls regulate the flow of water into the tank and the fuel burning to bring the incoming water up to these higher temperatures uniformly as possible. In so doing, a certain amount of fuel needs to be burned, which it would be desirable to keep low in this age of ever increasing fuel costs.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved method of heating the incoming water to the temperatures required in the concrete production.
It is an object of the present invention, also, to provide the apparatus necessary to carry out this improved method—and, particularly, in a manner to allow retrofitting to the tanks already in use in the direct firing to heat the supplied water.
It is an object of the present invention, furthermore, to accomplish this no matter the size of the storage tank used, and no matter the BTU rating of the fuel burners employed.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide this method and apparatus using readily available component parts, requiring simple installations to implement.